


At World's End

by Destinyiel



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternative Universe - Detroit: Become human, Android Alec, Androids, Detective Magnus, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mind Control, Revolution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-12-06 20:15:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destinyiel/pseuds/Destinyiel
Summary: The year is 2038. Androids developed by The Institute have been on the market for a couple years now and they have found their place in the lives and homes of millions of people in New York. Despite that, the atmosphere of uncertainty envelops the city, as humans feel robbed of their privileges, jobs, and safety.Magnus Bane is a police detective who is assigned the investigation of deviant Androids assaulting and murdering people all over the city. However, he is also assigned a new partner - a highly developed Android, Alec, programmed to solve the investigation, no matter what. The problem is, Magnus hates Androids. And with Alec's approach, is he the best one out there to make the young detective believe that humans may not be the only form of intelligent life on earth?





	At World's End

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my lovelies! I come to you with the first chapter of a 12-part story. I hope you enjoy it. Leave a comment down below and let me know if you liked it or not, I always really love reading your comments, it honestly makes my day. I'm not gonna set a specific date for a new chapter, I'll just post it when it's ready, thank you for your patience! 
> 
> If you'd like to, you can tweet me @alecsbvne or use the hashtag #AtWorldsEndFic. 
> 
> But for now my friends, enjoy the first chapter!

Magnus has approached the bar and made a vague gesture at the bartender, who nodded and reached for a glass to pour Magnus’ usual order into. Whiskey on the rocks - nothing out of ordinary, but definitely enough to finish the day on a somewhat positive note.

Magnus slid onto the old-looking stool, took off his coat and put it on the stool next to him. He reached into the left pocket of his jeans and his fingers stumbled upon the familiar, circular-shaped object he’s been carrying with him everywhere. He clutched at the item and closed his eyes, separating himself from the environment hidden in the dim light of Hunter’s Moon.

_I miss you. I miss you. I miss you._

He hasn’t realized he’s been holding his breath until the air left his lungs so abruptly, that it left a stinging feeling in his chest.

“Rough day?” He heard the familiar voice of his favorite bartender and his eyes fluttered open, taking in the sight of her sympathetic smile, something Magnus could always count on, whenever he set foot in the bar. This seemed to have been happening more and more throughout the recent months. He never drank too much, just enough to know that he should probably not ask for another shot.

“Oh, you have no idea, Maia.” Magnus took a sip of whiskey and scrunched his nose, more by the force of habit than the actual reaction to alcohol. “Humans… I just wish they used some brain for once, you know?”

Maia chuckled and grabbed a recently washed glass. She proceeded to wipe it dry with a cloth, while observing Magnus, who absent-mindedly traced the rim of his own glass with his finger. Finally, she set down the thoroughly dried glass on the counter and sighed, then she grabbed a few ice cubes and placed them at the bottom.

“Careful,” she said while reaching for the bottle of tequila from underneath the bar. She poured it into the glass she prepared and complemented it with some pineapple juice. “ _They_ might think you’re one of the other _theys_.”

Magnus snorted and raised his eyebrow, then looked Maia in the eye, only to notice her smirking and sipping on her pineapple tequila.

“Okay, look at me, Miss Roberts.” He gestured at himself. “Do I look like one of these plastic assholes to you?”

“Hmm…” Maia eyed him with poorly hidden amusement. “No, you’re not as good looking as they are. You’d never pass as an android, not in this life, sweetie.”

Magnus raised his glass and when Maia did the same, he clinked their glasses together.

“Let’s drink to that,” he said and took a big gulp of whiskey. The slight burning sensation hit his throat and he relished the feeling of cold ice dancing on his lips when the golden liquid was gone from the glass. He set the glass down and when Maia was about to pour him another one, he shook his head.

“I can’t,” he said, frowning, and reached for his phone to check the time. When he pressed the unlock button on the right side of the device, he was greeted by a memory warmer than any amount of whiskey could ever make him. Him and his best friend, Ragnor, first day on the force. Magnus could not help but reminisce about how lost and scared they were, but at the same time how happy to start a new, exciting adventure.

The clock showed almost eleven o’clock.

“Don’t tell me that Lieutenant of yours wants you for another extra night shift.” Maia groaned and rolled her eyes at Magnus as she poured herself another pineapple tequila on that account. “That guy’s gotta give you a night off eventually, you know.”

Lieutenant Garroway, or Luke, as he asked to be called, was a very hard-working person, more than any other Lieutenant Magnus has ever worked under, and Magnus did not mind it one bit, even if it meant spending most of his supposed free time at work. It was refreshing to see someone so keen on doing their job, especially in times when most people have already resigned their fate to the trusty machines by their side. It was hard to find a household without at least one android. Magnus was convinced he was one of the rare exceptions. He refused to buy one when they were first released, and when last year Lieutenant Penhallow decided to gift her best detectives a new AX400, he re-gifted it to Raphael, who, as a young bachelor, was exceptionally happy to have some help around his pad.

But Luke was not the reason why Magnus decided not to get another glass of whiskey.

“Tomorrow’s the fifth of June,” he said and gave Maia a sad smile. “The anniversary.”

Maia opened her mouth as if to say something, but she hesitated, and instead of speaking, she stepped out from behind the bar and came up to Magnus, pulling him into a tight embrace. Magnus slid from the stool he was sitting on and returned his friend’s embrace. It was a relief, to have someone who knew. Who understood. Even if Maia didn’t know Ragnor personally, Magnus had told her enough for her to know how much pain his death caused Magnus. She knew, that losing a best friend is not something you can ever truly recover from.

“I’m so sorry, I completely forgot,” Maia said quietly and put her chin on Magnus’ shoulder, caressing his back with her hand. “Do you want me to come with you?”

Magnus has had his own little tradition for the last two years since Ragnor died - on midnight of the fifth of June, he would go to the cemetery to visit his best friend’s grave and talk to him, tell him about all the trivial things he wished Ragnor was there to experience with him - about the new Korean restaurant that opened up right around the corner of his flat, about a cute girl or a handsome guy he saw on the street the other day but wasn’t brave enough to talk to, about how Luke always assigns him the most gruesome homicides as payback from that one time he refused to watch a movie about werewolves with him. Although Ragnor would probably side with Luke in this one.

Overall Magnus just missed his best friend terribly, and the way he died did not help. He was supposed to live a long and happy life, work on the force with Magnus until they were both old, fat cops who only did paperwork cause they were too old to be placed in the field anymore. But all it took was one freak of an android who murdered his owner and then drew the gun on the first responder.

“No, thank you.” Magnus spoke after the brief pause. “I’ll be okay on my own, got a lot of stuff I wanna tell him this year.”

Him and Maia let go of each other, but Maia’s hands remained glued to Magnus’ shoulders, almost as if she was worried to let him go.

“If at any point of the night you decide you don’t want to be alone, you give me a call, okay?” She said, and Magnus knew it was more of a command than a question, so he nodded and planted a soft kiss on Maia’s cheek before she returned behind the mahogany bar.

Magnus picked a fifty out of his wallet and placed it on the bar, and when Maia was about to protest, he quickly cut her off and insisted she took it. He put on his coat and walked towards the exit.

When he opened the door, he noticed it had started to rain, but he didn’t bother to go back home and take an umbrella with him, so he decided to grab a cab, but as his eyes searched for one, he couldn’t find even a single one with a human driver. He sighed and put the collar of his coat up to protect his neck from rain at least a little bit. It appeared he had quite a long walk ahead of him. He cursed himself for leaving his car at the station.

Making his way through the mostly emptied streets of New York was one of the most relaxing things Magnus has ever done. The streets were glistening from rain, and the occasional streetlights reflected in the tarmac and made it seem like the ground was made of glitter. Every now and then a car would pass Magnus, but overall it was calm, and peaceful, and quiet.

Magnus put his hands inside his coat’s pockets, as it was getting colder and colder as minutes passed. Magnus’ right hand fiddled with his phone, tossing and turning it inside his pocket a couple times, and Magnus thought it could be a sign that deep down he did not want to be alone. Maybe he wanted to call someone, _anyone_ , could be Maia, or Catarina, or Raphael… He had plenty of equally good choices, but before he could make one, he felt vibration in pocket as his fingers trembled in surprise. Magnus frowned and took the phone out and read the name displayed on the screen — Luke. He swiped down and answered the call.

“Hello?” He said. There were some strange noises coming from the background before he could even hear Luke’s voice, people murmuring and police sirens ringing, which could only mean one thing - Luke was at a crime scene.

“Magnus, I need you to come in, we’ve got a double homicide on our hands and a very messed up kid witness here,” Luke said and his voice was tinged with worry and a little bit of guilt. “We brought in a psychologist but she won’t talk.”

Magnus bit his lip and looked at the dark sky above. It was cloudy, but the rain had stopped falling and it was relatively warmer than before. Now instead of the rain, Magnus was trying to absorb the situation at hand.

“I’m in the middle of something, Luke.” He heard Garroway’s exasperated sigh on the other end and he could imagine the frustration on his face, the image Magnus had witnessed quite often, along with this overwhelming sadness in his eyes, which Magnus could not quite put a finger on. Luke was always friendly with him, but he never shared details of his life with anyone, and Magnus stopped trying to figure them out at some point, knowing that maybe some secrets were better off left alone.

“I know.” Lieutenant insisted. “I wouldn’t call you if it wasn’t important. But with the DA constantly on my ass for every shit he can latch his fingers on, I need to take care of this case. And you know you’re my best detective. If anyone can make the little girl talk, it’s you.”

Magnus sighed. He thought of all the times Luke didn’t bust him for coming late to work, or for checking out a crime scene that wasn’t his to check out in the first place, just because he thought he had a brilliant lead… He remembered how a week after Ragnor died, he still refused to come in to work. He physically couldn’t get out of bed, and he felt as if he might never do so. But Catarina told him something he wished someone would be there now to remind him of.

> _I know how much he meant to you, he meant just as much to me. But… Raphael, Luke… They need you. The people of New York need you too. And sometimes that’s enough to go on another day — to know somebody out there needs you._

“Okay, Send me the address.” Magnus replied, and heard Luke sigh in relief. “I can’t drive though… So it might take me a while to get there.”

“Where are you? I’ll send our new colleague to pick you up.” Luke sounded resigned, not exactly the reaction Magnus was looking for after agreeing to come in at such a short notice. “Apologies in advance… He’s a bit, uh… You’ll see.”

Magnus raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he didn’t want to waste any more time, so he quickly gave Luke his coordinates and hung up. His clothes were all damp from the rain and after ten minutes or so he started shivering quite heavily. _Great,_ he thought. _All I need right now is to come down with flu._

Another ten minutes passed and Magnus was still standing alone, attempting to warm himself up by rubbing his hands together. For a moment, he contemplated whether it would be easier for him to get some warmth if he didn’t have his jewellery on, but as he didn’t wear it to work because it would be too much of an inconvenience, he has decided to cherish every moment he could put his favorite rings on. He treated jewellery like his armor, and while it could not really protect him physically, sometimes a mental shield was what he needed the most, especially doing what he did. The ringing in his ears and gunshot sounds still haunted him at night. Not regularly, not anymore, but enough for Magnus to be painfully reminded of his own mortality.

Lost in thought, he didn’t notice a car approaching him. He barely registered its lights illuminating him in the dark, but for a moment he remained unbothered, until he heard a voice coming out of the vehicle, which how halted and whoever had driven it there clearly switched off the engine, as once again there was silence.

“Detective?” Magnus heard a surprisingly soft baritone call out to him, but he did not yet see the face of a mysterious new co-worker. “Detective Bane?”

Magnus sighed and started walking towards the place the voice was coming from. He wanted to get this whole thing over with, preferably fast. When he approached the car, he caught a quick glimpse of the new colleague’s face. He was quite good looking, with short black hair and hazel eyes. Magnus noticed a tiny scar on the man’s left eyebrow, before scanning down to his lips, neck, and eventually clothes. That’s where Magnus’ heart sank to the floor and he felt like someone shifted the ground underneath his feet. The guy was wearing a black tie, a dark shirt, and a jacket with a blue triangle placed right where his heart was supposed to be, and on the other side of the jacket he had his serial number - RK800. Magnus briefly wondered how come he didn’t realize that earlier, but he suspected it was because out of all the things that could have happened today, it was something he expected the least. The wind has blown and Magnus’ attention was drawn to a blue, glowing circle on the guy’s temple.

Magnus was devastated.

“Who the fuck are you?” He hissed through gritted teeth and he was greeted by the blue circle briefly changing its color to yellow. He didn’t even wonder what that meant, he didn’t care what it meant.

“I’m Alec. I’m an android sent by The Institute. I’m here to assist you with your case, Detective.” The android replied patiently, much to Magnus’ dismay. “Lieutenant Garroway said I would find you here.”

“Well, you found me alright.” Magnus chuckled bitterly. He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head.

“I see my presence is causing you frustration, Detective,” Alec said, attempting to look Magnus in the eye, although he successfully avoided it. “I apologize, but my instructions clearly indicate you and I travel to the crime scene and investigate it. It’s best if we hurry.”

Magnus matched Alec’s glance with anger written all over his face. He was breathing heavily and still biting on his lower lip in attempt not to jump at the android’s throat. After all the things he’s been through, how could anyone think giving him an android as a partner was a good idea?! He opened the door and jumped into the front seat of the car, Alec quickly following him and turning on the engine.

The silence was awkward, but nothing was worse than Alec staring intently at Magnus. Magnus could imagine he was scanning everything he laid eyes on, he read enough about androids to know they’re never just _looking_ at someone. They’re learning everything there is to know about a person, and then they use it to their advantage.

“You’re bleeding, Detective,” Alec said and Magnus could have sworn for a second he was frowning. Magnus tasted blood on his lips, he must have bit his lip too hard at some point and started bleeding. No big deal. “I also sense alcohol in your exhaled air. Are you sure you’re ready to investigate the crime scene? My instructions—”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, I don’t give a fuck about your instructions!” Magnus yelled out in frustration, and for a moment Alec’s circular LED on his right temple changed its color to yellow again. Magnus took a big breath to calm himself down. “Just… Just look at the road when you’re driving.”

“Why?” Alec said, very much confused. Magnus was about to yell at him one more time, but he was interrupted by the automated female voice.

> _Five minutes until your destination. If you’d like to switch to manual, touch the green button on the control panel._

Magnus cursed under his breath. He absolutely hated all of this. The automated car, the android sitting next to him… He despised it all. But he had no choice, he had to play along, at least until they investigated the crime scene.

As if on cue, the car came to a halt and Magnus noticed quite a big, modern house in front of him, it looked like it belonged to some rich people. Lines of police tapes were projected around the place, to prevent any civillians gathered around from entering and possibly messing up the scene. Near the entrance, Magnus noticed Luke talking to a blonde deputy Magnus has seen once or twice at the station, but never got around to get to know her name. Admittedly, he was more than detached from reality lately, but it was still weird working with people he had no intention of getting to know anything about.

“Okay, buddy,” he said to Alec, who seemed to listen closely to what Magnus was about to say. His hazel eyes regarded Magnus closely and Magnus let out an exasperated sigh. “You stay here, I can take care of it on my own. You think you can do that?”

“Sure, Detective.” Alec nodded in reply and Magnus raised his eyebrows at him.

“Perhaps you are a wonder of technology…” He mumbled and left the car, walked through the police tape and walked up to Lieutenant Garroway, who distributed instructions to the younger deputies who probably saw a crime scene for the first time in their lives. It looked like Luke really had no other choice but to call Magnus.

“Luke,” Magnus said when he reached the entrance to the house. He heard people murmuring in the distance, undoubtedly spawning theories and trying to overhear anything, it was typical of every crime scene Magnus has ever been to. It was always surrounded by bystanders who would sell their own arm for a piece of information they could gossip about.

“Hey,” Luke replied and shook Magnus’ hand. “As I said, double homicide, a thirty-six-year-old male and a thirty-year-old female, last month was their tenth wedding anniversary. The husband was killed with a knife and the wife died from head trauma, she has blood on the back of her head.”

“Any sign of forced entry?”

“None. Seems like they knew the attacker.”

“Or the wife killed the guy and fell when she tried to hide the body,” Magnus said, but he wasn’t convinced about this theory. It was never the first guess that turned out to be the answer. “You said there was a witness?”

“Yes,” Luke guided Magnus through the door into the house. “Their ten-year-old daughter, but I’m not sure how much she saw. She won’t speak.”

“Can’t say I blame her,” Magnus replied and walked through the corridor into the kitchen. What he saw was a mess. A lifeless body with multiple stab wounds to the chest and the stomach, whole lot of blood, some scattered household objects and no murder weapon anywhere in sight. “You didn’t recover the knife?”

“No,” Luke said. “We’ve searched the whole house, it’s not here.”

“That certainly complicates things…” Magnus murmured, looking around the room searching for something that obviously wasn’t there. He felt like an idiot. Like there was something very obvious right under his nose, but he just couldn’t put a finger on it.

“Did the family have an android around?” Magnus heard a familiar voice and he instantly groaned. He turned around and rolled his eyes at the sight of Alec walking around the crime scene as if it was his playground.

“Yeah, they had an AX950, it was the one who called the police, but when we arrived he wasn’t here anymore.” Luke replied and Magnus instantly felt guilty. Luke wasn’t a big fan of androids either, but he didn’t waste his time whining about having to work with one. He did right what was right for the victims and their daughter, unlike Magnus. He decided to snap out of it and focus on his job, something that kept him grounded through the darkest time of his life. He owed it to the people who died here to figure this out.

He swallowed his pride and spoke.

“Alec, can you examine the bodies and try if you can find any clues?” He asked and both Alec and Luke looked at him with a hint of surprise on their faces. “I’m gonna try and talk to the daughter.”

Alec nodded and began examining the father’s body. Magnus made his way upstairs. When he went up the stairs, he noticed some bloody footprints leading to one of the rooms, and he figured the girl must have stepped in one of her parents’ blood and then run to her own bedroom, probably scared to death. Magnus braced himself for the upcoming situation. He knew how to deal with death, he’s witnessed it countless times, but he was still anxious about talking to the girl. She was only ten years old — how was she supposed to deal with losing both of her parents? And how could Magnus help her, when he himself couldn’t deal with the death of his best friend, even though he was much older than the girl? He shivered, but didn’t know if it was still the cold.

He walked up to the door, it was open. Inside was everything one could dream of as a child - lots of toys, a computer, a big bed, colorful walls and a big stuffed bear at the foot of the bed. It was a child’s paradise — with a morbid twist to it. The girl did not react to Magnus knocking on the door, nor did she look at him when he walked in. Her face was hidden behind a wall of long, blonde hair. She was wearing navy shorts and a white t-shirt with a unicorn on it. Right next to the unicorn’s head was a blood stain in the shape of a tiny hand. Magnus’ heart broke for her.

“Hey, sweet pea.” Magnus spoke as softly as he possibly could and approached the girl slowly. He crouched next to the bed to try to get her to look at him, but it was fruitless. “I’m Magnus. I was hoping I could hang out with you for a while, is that okay?”

He waited patiently for a reaction, and after a few seconds, the girl nodded weakly. Magnus wondered what he should say to her. If she didn’t want to talk, there was no argument that the information she had could help her mommy and daddy. She was well aware they’re both dead.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” Magnus asked, but he did not receive an answer. The girl, however, started sneakily eyeing him, slowly going back and forth between his hands and her ones. She lifted her right hand and stroke the charm bracelet hanging on her left wrist, still looking at Magnus’ hand, and Magnus understood. He sent her a tiny smile, even though she wasn’t looking him in the eye, he knew she could see it in the corner of her eye.

“Natalie.” The girl mumbled and hid her face behind her hair once again. Magnus felt so relieved. Not even because he hoped to get some information out of her, that wasn’t the most important thing right now. He hoped Alec would be able to get more out of the crime scene than a human eye could. But a trauma like this in a girl Natalie’s age… He’s seen it before. And that child never spoke again, for the rest of their lives.

“You have a very nice room, Natalie.” Natalie’s head moved a bit and she looked at Magnus and for the first time, she let Magnus see her face, fully. Her cheeks were red and eyes puffy, she seemed to have been crying a lot. “I wish I had such a beautiful room. But I did get a… stuffed bear, recently. His name is Alec. What’s this one’s name?”

“Otis.” Natalie said and her lips curved into the tiniest of smiles. “Did you find Benjamin?”

“Benjamin?” Magnus frowned. “Who’s Benjamin, sweetie?”

Natalie bit her lip and stood up. She walked up to Otis and sat next to him on the floor, clinging onto him like a castaway held onto a raft. Magnus thought the bear must have been Natalie’s main support system, in a dire situation like this.

“He was holding a knife… But he loved us. He loved me, he loved my mom and dad. We were supposed to be together forever…” Once Natalie started speaking, Magnus could not interrupt her. But he also desperately needed to know who this Benjamin was and where he was now.

“Sweet pea, look at me.” Magnus instructed Natalie, and she locked eyes with him, still holding onto the bear’s paw. “Who’s Benjamin?”

Natalie’s mouth became a thin line. Magnus was afraid he messed up by pushing her like that, but then her right hand wandered to her temple and she began drawing a circle on it with her finger. Then, Magnus knew.

Benjamin was an android. A deviant who killed Natalie’s parents and ran away with the weapon.

“You’re extremely brave, sweet pea.” Magnus told the girl, with certain urgency in his voice he could not quite control. “I have to go downstairs for a moment, but I’ll send my dear friend here to keep you company, okay?”

Natalie nodded and Magnus squeezed her arm reassuringly, then got up to his feet and ran out of the room and down the stairs back to the kitchen. He didn’t see Alec there, but Luke’s voice was coming from the living room, where the mother’s body was. Magnus ran up to him.

“I know who did it.” He said and before Luke could ask him any questions, he noticed Alec was nowhere to be found here either. “Where’s Alec? I need to know if he found any traces of blue blood. Our culprit is an android.”

“What?” Luke was caught off guard. “Another deviant? It’s our second one this week. What the hell is going on with these machines?”

“I don’t know, but if there’s anyone that can find it now it’s another android. Do you know where he went?” Magnus inquired. He just wanted to catch the faulty android and send it back to The Institute.

“I think he said he’s gonna check the backyard,” Luke stated and Magnus instantly ran through the dining room and out the back door. When he opened the door he saw another scene straight from a movie, a garden so beautiful he could only dream of ever having anything similar to this. There were flowers everywhere, gerberas, irises, daffodils… The entire garden was almost consumed by the amount of them. In the middle of the flower field there was a huge, wooden pergola, with a fancy table and four chairs around it. On the table, Magnus noticed a box of crayons and two piles of drawings. Magnus moved closer and noticed one pile had clearly been drawn by a child — Natalie, but the other pile was way too… mechanical to be drawn by a real person. Benjamin must have been drawing out here with Natalie.

Then, out of nowhere, a gunshot pierced the air and Magnus froze, cause it seemed like it came not far away from here. He noticed that in the back of the garden, there was a little shed, completely covered in vines and plants, except for the door, which was half open at the time.

Magnus did not waste any more time. He grabbed his own gun and ran to the door of the shed. He peeked inside it, and what he saw chilled the blood in his veins. He saw Alec, blue blood leaking through the jacket on his right arm. Magnus knew he wasn’t in pain, cause androids didn’t feel pain, but the Thirium leakage must have damaged his components and his movements were slow and strained. The other android, Magnus assumed it was Benjamin, held a gun to Alec’s head, and used him as a shield. He must have sensed Magnus already, so he did not wait any second longer, as he barged into the shed.

“Stop!” Benjamin shouted and his right hand, in which he held the gun, shook. “One more step, and next bullet is going through his head. And even we don’t come back from that so easily.”

Magnus resisted the urge to yell at Benjamin that he doesn’t care if he kills another android. Mostly because Benjamin seemed incredibly unpredictable, but also because android or not, Alec was his partner. It doesn’t matter if he hated the idea. He was on the job, and he would be damned if he let another one of his partners die. That was not an option.

He raised his hands in surrender.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll stay right here. But, Benjamin, you must know there’s no coming back from this.”

Magnus knew he was playing with fire. The LED on Benjamin’s temple was red, and he looked straight up crazy.

“There’s no universe in which you walk out of here, not after what you did.” Magnus continued and he saw Benjamin’s hand shake once again. He seemed to have tears in his eyes. “But I can help you. I just want to understand what happened. Please, let him go, and let’s talk. Okay?”

Magnus looked Benjamin straight in the eye and he saw the android was beginning to crack. When he loosened his grip around Alec’s neck, Alec acted swiftly and competently — he freed himself completely of Benjamin’s grip, but when he attempted to grab the gun from his hand, his own damaged arm must have failed him, and instead of overpowering Benjamin, it was him who ended up kicked to the ground. Benjamin now pointed the gun at Magnus.

“I loved her,” he started speaking raggedly. “He brought in a lot of money, but I knew she wasn’t happy with him… He could have never given her what I could, if she’d let me. I loved her… So I killed him. For her.”

“You killed Natalie’s father…” Magnus began. “But what happened to her mother? If you loved her, why did you kill her too?”

Benjamin was getting frustrated again. He shook his head.

“I… I didn’t mean to, I… She started hitting me and I… I wanted to make her understand, I did it for her…” He stumbled on his words, and Magnus saw in the corner of his eye that Alec is trying to stand up and tackle the android. He tried to give him a silent warning, but Benjamin realized what was going on and grabbed Alec by the jacket, punched him, and threw him on the ground right at Magnus’ feet.

Magnus’ mind started going places he wouldn’t suspect it ever going to. He thought about his death once or twice, but when he looked it straight in the face, all he could feel was fear.

“It doesn’t matter now!” Benjamin hissed and pointed the gun at Magnus again. “They will kill me if they find me. They will… They will kill me and throw me away… No, I don’t want to die…”

“You won’t die,” Magnus assured him, even if that wasn’t true. He knew what The Institute did with the androids that went deviant and harmed humans. They were torn to pieces and thrown away. “Just put down the gun, and I promise you won’t be harmed.”

For a few seconds Magnus thought his speech had worked. Benjamin seemed to have calmed down, he stopped crying and his LED went from red to yellow, which was obviously a good sign. But when he spoke again, Magnus knew his fate was already decided, and that this machine was actually his executioner.

He shut his eyes in the last act of desperation, and half a second later a loud noise pierced his ears. It was not the first time he heard a gunshot, but it was the first time it was actually aimed at him. He expected burning pain, and blood, but instead, he heard a loud thud and everything went silent.

He opened his eyes and saw Benjamin trying to shoot at him one more time, but he couldn’t — the gun was out of bullets. Magnus tried to understand how come he was still alive, and how come he didn’t feel any bullet piercing his body. He looked down to his feet and he saw Alec, on his back, blue blood leaking through his shirt somewhere in the middle of his chest.

Magnus looked into Alec’s eyes, but they were empty.

He was dead.

 

 

 


End file.
